How about motorists who are just plain considerate?

[Carusoswi]

This afternoon, it was such a beautiful day, I decided to leave the office early (well, early for me) and take a nice ride. Left at 4:30 PM and headed from my starting point (near Blue Marsh just west of Wyomissing, PA (which is west of Reading, PA), and headed towards French Creek State Park (25 miles in a south-easterly direction).

It was a beautiful ride, no negative encounters.

I stopped in the park and called my 90 year old mother - we chatted for about 1/2 hour. Then, I headed back. I decided to take the Thun trail cut from Rt 724, and rode in through Reading on the way back.

Coming down Penn Avenue (going west towards the Wyomissing post office), I find myself in what seemed almost like a race with the the traffic on Penn Avenue - I was going about 35 mph. Penn Ave. is quite wide at this point, so I did not feel at all in danger. I had all the traffic in sight in my mirror.

As I approached Park Road, one car that seemed to be straining to pass me suddenly hit his brakes firmly - didn't squeal his tires or anything, but it was a very quick deceleration on his part. Then, he ducked in behind me, and I realized that he wanted to turn right onto Park Road and had decided that it was safer to slow up and make the turn from behind me than to race to beat me to the corner.

I made a point of coming up out of my tuck (well, it's as good a tuck as these old bones can achieve), and gave him the friendliest of waves. I hope he caught it and understood how appreciative I was of his consideration.

Anyone else have some positive motorist interaction stories? We spend so much time putting motorists down (we are they, they are we in most cases). I think it would be good to share some positive experiences.

Caruso

[Blue Order]

Good thread! Courtesy and cooperation out there is what it should be all about.

[kjmillig]

:eek: that they slowed, but :beer: a hearty "Thanks!" to that driver!

[bragi]

I don't have a car, and haven't had one in quite a while, so I can't say that I am "they", but I do have to say that the vast majority of car drivers are, in fact, considerate and thoughtful. The very rare driver who acts like a jerk stands out precisely because so many others are polite. It's nice to be reminded of the goodness of the vast majority of people out there...

[pirate golf]

I just recently started commuting 14 miles round trip. On the first night I was riding home (I get off at 8pm, so it was dark as I was nearing my house), I came to a fairly busy intersection for the time of night. There's a right turn only lane that I have to merge across so that I can get into the bike lane going straight through the intersection. The right turn only lane was packed with cars turning so I slowed to a crawl and waited for it to clear. I noticed a nice lady in a minivan had nearly come to a complete stop behind me; I looked back and she waved me on. As she pulled up next to me, I noticed her window was half- down, so I said thanks and waved. She waved back and gave me a big smile. It was definitely a nice encounter for a first-timer, especially after reading so many scary stories in the commuting forum and in here.

[Raiyn]

Occasionally we get folks traveling on roads that cross the Pinellas Trail (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinellas_Trail) who will stop and wave us through even though we have a stop sign as well. I'm guessing they're used to the JAB's who blow the stop signs on their "training" rides. We have to wave them through, because normally they reach the sign first and therefore have first dibs.

[genec]

This afternoon, it was such a beautiful day, I decided to leave the office early (well, early for me) and take a nice ride. Left at 4:30 PM and headed from my starting point (near Blue Marsh just west of Wyomissing, PA (which is west of Reading, PA), and headed towards French Creek State Park (25 miles in a south-easterly direction).

It was a beautiful ride, no negative encounters.

I stopped in the park and called my 90 year old mother - we chatted for about 1/2 hour. Then, I headed back. I decided to take the Thun trail cut from Rt 724, and rode in through Reading on the way back.

Coming down Penn Avenue (going west towards the Wyomissing post office), I find myself in what seemed almost like a race with the the traffic on Penn Avenue - I was going about 35 mph. Penn Ave. is quite wide at this point, so I did not feel at all in danger. I had all the traffic in sight in my mirror.

As I approached Park Road, one car that seemed to be straining to pass me suddenly hit his brakes firmly - didn't squeal his tires or anything, but it was a very quick deceleration on his part. Then, he ducked in behind me, and I realized that he wanted to turn right onto Park Road and had decided that it was safer to slow up and make the turn from behind me than to race to beat me to the corner.

I made a point of coming up out of my tuck (well, it's as good a tuck as these old bones can achieve), and gave him the friendliest of waves. I hope he caught it and understood how appreciative I was of his consideration.

Anyone else have some positive motorist interaction stories? We spend so much time putting motorists down (we are they, they are we in most cases). I think it would be good to share some positive experiences.

Caruso


Wonderful, exactly the type of co-operation that I am always ranting about. You fit right into the transporation picture and you were treated just like the driver of a vehicle.

It was interesting however that only moments before the motorist was trying to get around the cyclist at all costs... sigh. Then suddenly the light came on. :D

[Eli_Damon]

Don't let the fearful folks, VCists, and/or many car phobic folks on this forum see that dose of reality. It will rock their skewed world view.

I am a "VCist" and I freely admit that most drivers I encounter are safe and considerate, with about the same number going out of their way to be nice as the number who go out of their way to be mean. I don't think anyone could rationally claim that all drivers are inconsiderate. It's just that the mean drivers upset me much more than the nice drivers calm me. However, I do take note of good encounters with drivers and sometimes even call out words of appreciation. They can't hear me of course, but I hold out hope that they catch the karma waves anyway.

[joejack951]

If I described every time I had a positive motorist interaction, I'd be posting all day long. I had a few hundred on my way in this morning such as fully changing lanes to pass well before the last second to keep traffic flowing, slowing behind me then using the right turn lane on my right while I used the straight through lane, yielding to my lookbacks/signals when I needed to merge because my lane was ending or I was making a left turn, and not tailgating even though I was often going 30mph less than traffic.

[genec]

I am a "VCist" and I freely admit that most drivers I encounter are safe and considerate, with about the same number going out of their way to be nice as the number who go out of their way to be mean. I don't think anyone could rationally claim that all drivers are inconsiderate. It's just that the mean drivers upset me much more than the nice drivers calm me. However, I do take note of good encounters with drivers and sometimes even call out words of appreciation. They can't hear me of course, but I hold out hope that they catch the karma waves anyway.

This is typically what I encounter... and no matter how nice the driver, you still have to be "heads up" until you know what they are doing.

I do quite enjoy the rare really good motorists... the ones that move over and give you space, or signal well in advance, and then nod or smile or wave that they see you. I call it "driving friendly." These motorists are not "pushing the envelope," are not trying to "catch the light," and are courteous in their driving habits.

[noisebeam]

Most motorist encounters I have are either neutral or courteous. Out of 100 motorists: 10 are courteous, 89 are neutral and 1 is either not paying attention or intentionally aggressive. Of that 1, 90% fall into the not paying attention category.

Al

[Mr. Underbridge]

Most motorist encounters I have are either neutral or courteous. Out of 100 motorists: 10 are courteous, 89 are neutral and 1 is either not paying attention or intentionally aggressive. Of that 1, 90% fall into the not paying attention category.

Al

Wow, 99.1% of motorists pay attention where you live? I'm moving. Here, it's 50/50 if you're lucky!

Fortunately, the number of helpful drivers do outweigh the agressive. My only pet peeve around here is drivers who don't know what crosswalks are. Still, more do stop than don't.

I haven't had anyone try to kill me, so I'm happy!

[noisebeam]

Wow, 99.1% of motorists pay attention where you live? I'm moving. Here, it's 50/50 if you're lucky!

Yes, likely even higher - I encounter 500 drivers or so on my commute. Perhaps 30% of them must interact with me (i.e have to make a decision based on my presence, not based on traffic control) During my commute I rarely (as in a few times in a few years) have had a driver pull out in front of me. Every same direction rear approaching driver has either slowed or merged left when I am using full lane.

If it was 50/50 I'd have multiple collisions on my commute every day (or more likely would not be able to travel forward effectively if I was being vigillant)

Al

[genec]

Yes, likely even higher - I encounter 500 drivers or so on my commute. Perhaps 30% of them must interact with me (i.e have to make a decision based on my presence, not based on traffic control) During my commute I rarely (as in a few times in a few years) have had a driver pull out in front of me. Every same direction rear approaching driver has either slowed or merged left when I am using full lane.

If it was 50/50 I'd have multiple collisions on my commute every day (or more likely would not be able to travel forward effectively if I was being vigillant)

Al

Whoa, a collision doesn't have to be the result of discourtesy or aggression or distraction... the end result may only be a long honk or close passing or yelling. A near miss (as has occured to me a short while ago by a woman on a cell phone running a stop sign) is a clear indicator of distraction, but a collision did not result. (I saw her not slowing.)

[noisebeam]

Whoa, a collision doesn't have to be the result of discourtesy or aggression or distraction... the end result may only be a long honk or close passing or yelling. A near miss (as has occured to me a short while ago by a woman on a cell phone running a stop sign) is a clear indicator of distraction, but a collision did not result. (I saw her not slowing.)
I didn't say collision was the certain result of inattentiveness - in fact I clarified otherwise with my parenthetical remark. If I directly interact with 150 drivers every commute and 50% were inattenive, surely there would be mostly near misses (up to 75), but at such a high level some of those near misses would result in collision, or would more likely require me to not be able to travel forward effectively having to near endlessly compensate for the inattentivness so they would all be near misses instead of collisions.

Anyway as it is, near-misses are very rare on my commute. Only several in several years.

Al

[noisebeam]

One observation I wanted to add is that I find motorists on the busier higher volume streets to pay most attention. Motorist interacting with other motorists in such a rapidly changing environment can not lapse in attention - especially with the combination of both speed and volume - with lots of information to gather and process. When I travel on low volume 'quiet' streets is where I encounter more sloppy behavior.

Al

[joejack951]

One observation I wanted to add is that I find motorists on the busier higher volume streets to pay most attention. Motorist interacting with other motorists in such a rapidly changing environment can not lapse in attention - especially with the combination of both speed and volume - with lots of information to gather and process. When I travel on low volume 'quiet' streets is where I encounter more sloppy behavior.

Al

Couldn't agree more. I was overlooked twice in one ride (a first for me) a few weeks ago taking a neighborhood route to get some water ice. Both drivers were turning without even looking ahead of them, one into their own driveway and another onto their street (I saw them pull into their driveway a few houses away from the corner). I've never encountered that level of inattention on any non-neighborhood road before.

[genec]

One observation I wanted to add is that I find motorists on the busier higher volume streets to pay most attention. Motorist interacting with other motorists in such a rapidly changing environment can not lapse in attention - especially with the combination of both speed and volume - with lots of information to gather and process. When I travel on low volume 'quiet' streets is where I encounter more sloppy behavior.

Al

Tend to agree... drivers become quite sloppy in their own 'hood... running that same stopsign all the time etc.

However in a busy situation (prompted by the need to hold the speed at all costs) drivers take shortcuts... round corners, don't signal, make turns based on quick glances... etc.

[Wino Ryder]

[QUOTE=Carusoswi].
Coming down Penn Avenue (going west towards the Wyomissing post office), I find myself in what seemed almost like a race with the the traffic on Penn Avenue - I was going about 35 mph.


Man, at 35 mph my yap will be bouncing off the top tube, much less coherently recognizing if anyone was around me.

But at least you had a good ride, and positive vibes from that motorist. :D

[roadbiker964]

I have recently adopted the approach of acknowledging motorists as much as possible, with a thank you wave when they are courteous or to acknowledge that they are waiting for me on a side road as I pass by (it also helps to make sure they see you). I started thinking about how bikers appear to motorists -- heads down, human characteristics covered by helmets and sunglasses, and generally non-interactive -- and I decided that if motorists realized we were people too (and courteous ones at that), they might think twice before zipping by within inches or doing other stupid things. I don't know if it makes a difference, but it makes me feel better. I guess this wouldn't work for folks who are really trying to really cover lots of miles, as it requires focusing more on your environment and being aware of what the cars are doing (which I guess we should be doing anyway).

[eofelis]

I have recently adopted the approach of acknowledging motorists as much as possible, with a thank you wave when they are courteous or to acknowledge that they are waiting for me on a side road as I pass by (it also helps to make sure they see you). I started thinking about how bikers appear to motorists -- heads down, human characteristics covered by helmets and sunglasses, and generally non-interactive -- and I decided that if motorists realized we were people too (and courteous ones at that), they might think twice before zipping by within inches or doing other stupid things. I don't know if it makes a difference, but it makes me feel better.



I have been making more of an effort to cheery wave or nod to courteous motorists too.

A couple of days ago my bf went out for an early am road ride (I slept in) and when he got home he immediately got on the phone to a local cement company. Seems that one of their drivers carefully passed by my bf on the road, giving him lots of room, driving very safely. My bf got the plate number of the truck and wanted to let the company know that this driver was deserving of kudos or a raise or something.

My bf has done this on other occasions also. Conversely, he has also called a company (or the cops) when he's encountered an aggressive driver.

[Machka]

I'd have to say that easily 99.9% of the drivers around here (perhaps more) are GREAT!!

Take my commute this morning, for example ... 35 kms from home to work. They were doing a rig move on the road I was cycling, so I was being passed by a steady stream of rig equipment and trucks, as well as the usual commuters. As a guess, during that 2 hour commute, I had a vehicle pass me about every 20 seconds ... so maybe about 360 vehicles. Every single one of them was fine, none gave me any trouble.

I have a small shoulder all the way, but still all of them pulled out to go around me and gave me a full lane, unless there was a vehicle coming from the opposite direction, and in those cases they gave me as much room as they could.

My ride home was much quieter, maybe 100-ish drivers, mostly large trucks ... and all of them were great too.

That doesn't happen every time I'm on the road ... sometime there are one or two drivers who honks at me or yells something at me, but that's really rare.


Oh, I have to add ... my coworkers have seen me cycling to work, and two of them asked me if honking a greeting would bother me. I told them I wouldn't mind if they honked while they were beside me or a little bit in front of me, where I could see the vehicle, just not right behind me. :)

[Satyr]

First let me say that generally I feel very safe on the roads and in heavy traffic, but I also try to ride fast and hard to keep up with cars, while obeying all laws.

However, ya'll who are saying how consider car drivers are, I wonder if you realize that a lack of inconsideration is not consideration.

Being respected as another valid object on the road is, or should be, baseline behavior to be expected from motorists. This baseline is what I've always received save for the occasional ******monkey. Consideration implies some measure of kindness.

The only place I can think of where drivers are regularly considerate is in small town four-way intersections. A lot of the times I will come to a stop after a driver yet they will still try and wave me through.

[Machka]

However, ya'll who are saying how consider car drivers are, I wonder if you realize that a lack of inconsideration is not consideration.

Being respected as another valid object on the road is, or should be, baseline behavior to be expected from motorists. This baseline is what I've always received save for the occasional ******monkey. Consideration implies some measure of kindness.

The only place I can think of where drivers are regularly considerate is in small town four-way intersections. A lot of the times I will come to a stop after a driver yet they will still try and wave me through.

Consideration is simple the act of considering; careful thought or attention ... it doesn't really imply kindness. For example, in my story above, the drivers give me a bit of extra room (often an entire lane) so that I'm not intimidated, and so that I don't get caught up in their draft. That's "careful thought or attention". :)

And when drivers wave you through, even though you arrive at a 4-way stop after them, it is just evidence that the drivers don't know how to use 4-way stops. Most of the drivers in the city where I currently live seem a little puzzled by them ... even when I drive, I often end up sitting there thinking, "You got here first ... GO!"

[Nycycle]

I am at a loss for words here, all I have is friendly encounters with the exception of some that do not see me.
In fact the worst 2 things I have had to me was last Sunday, a middle aged female hung a left right in front of me and I almost went over the bars(I need to be more alert), then a younger female passed me just to hit the brakes and turn right(Had to break the speed limit to do it).
I drive a truck all day, they hate trucks, so when I get on the bike it's a lot nicer, they don't seem to hate me. yet?

When I used an MTB with street mods I felt like a critter running across the road when when I cross busy highways, I took side roads and things to avoid busy traffic.

Now with this road bike it's like I ride more with traffic, I see my self making mistakes.

I had a cop see me run a red on a right turn, had I been in my truck he would have nailed me.

Drivers here in Utah seem to treat bicycles as well as or better than truckers.

[drat]

Around my area cars often stop at trail crossings where the bikes have a stop sign and the cars to not.

Most recently the car in question was a police cruiser that waited and waved me through a stop sign.

Is that called "obeying a lawful police order?"

[ChromePista]

I rode my bike to work one summer day eventhough there was a heat advisory. It was 99Fand humid with a beating sun on the ride home. My trick to stay cool is to soak my jersey in water just before leaving the office. I has 2/3rds of the way home, climbing a hill in a fancy shopping district, when a BMW pulled up along side and the passenger window rolled down. This very nice looking 40 year old woman was driving. She was holding a bottled water and extended it towards me saying, "Do you need any water?". I said, "No thank you".

I then followed her home and had vigorous sex with her before her husband came home.

It's all true except the last part.

[Baroque]

Riding around back roads two weeks ago, every driver passing us (with only one exception) slowed down while approaching, and gave us a wiiiiiiiiide berth while passing, not accelerating until they were well in front again. One driver coming from the opposite direction at a 3-way intersection came to a complete stop and did not turn in front of us until we indicated we were turning as well. Lots of nice, sensible folk round here! :)

[Jeronimo_]

I wave to true courtesy practitioners.

I stare at false courtesy practitioners until they figure out just how lame they truly are and then they move.